Thank you. I'm probably going to be briefer than Joy was.
Good morning, Chair, and honourable members. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before the committee to comment on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. I'm pleased to share Magna's perspective on the impact of this agreement and how it relates to our business in the automotive parts manufacturing sector.
Magna International is a leading global automotive supplier with 306 manufacturing operations, and 92 product development engineering and sales centres, located in 29 countries.
We have over 147,000 employees, and approximately 20,000 of those in Ontario, all focused on delivering superior value to our customers through innovative products and processes, with an emphasis on world-class manufacturing.
Our product capabilities include producing body, chassis, exterior, seating, powertrain, electronic, vision, closure, and roof systems and modules, as well as complete vehicle engineering and contract manufacturing. In 2015, our global sales amounted to $32.1 billion.
In anticipation of the pending changes the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement could present, Magna is currently assessing how this might enable us to achieve new benefits, while also building an understanding of the compliance implications and evaluating the necessary tools that would enable us to meet these new requirements.
Overall we expect the net impact of the agreement on Magna's consolidated global operations to be neutral. Through increased competition and reduced regional value content rules, it is expected there will be additional pressure on automotive parts manufacturers within Canada where facilities are producing products that are low value, labour intensive, cost sensitive, and can be officially transported for export purposes.
The impact on small and medium-sized enterprises with limited access to capital and challenged mobility may be greater than that on Magna, as we currently have a global operating footprint with an existing presence in many markets.
With this flexibility to shift our operations to remain competitive, we will continually evaluate the optimal locations to manufacture. Although investment decisions are not based on local content requirements or tariffs alone—and for us the quality of infrastructure, access to skilled talent, ease of doing business, and proximity to our customers and suppliers is far more important—trade agreements and tariff barriers could be elements that factor in decisions on where new facilities and programs are located.
While Magna is headquartered here in Canada, and has significant operations in the province of Ontario, the location of our production facilities is highly dependent on the requirements of our customers. The broader implication for our business will be the impact of the agreement to these OEMs and any resulting reassessments of sourcing strategies to optimize supply chains.
It is critical to the automotive parts manufacturing sector that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement does not substantially detract from Canada's competitive position and rather strengthens its abilities of supplying products into expanding global markets.
I'll save further comments for our question session.